Manmohan Singh: Man who liberated India’s dreams | India News

NEW DELHI: It was probably his darkest hour as prime minister – the glow of popular approval, a key factor in the Congress-led alliance’s election victory in 2009, had faded and been replaced by ominous clouds with no silver lining in it view was. But Singh, then at the helm of the scandal-hit UPA-2 government where ministerial squabbles were common, had a different opinion. “History will be kinder to me,” he said.
He was right. And everyone, regardless of their political views, would have Dr. Singh’s self-assessment when it was announced that he breathed his last at AIIMS on a cold, foggy evening in Delhi on Thursday.
No Indian prime minister could match his nonchalance when faced with a barrage of bad news. Remember those days – Commonwealth scam, 2G scam, coal scam, Manmohan’s big mantris behaving as if they had no boss, Rahul Gandhi tearing up a bill approved by the Singh government, giving the condemned netas a back door opened to return to electoral politics.
What shaped the calm Sikh’s cool confidence in the face of horrific headlines about corruption and dysfunction? First, Singh was steadfast in public life. Second, he knew that his legacy as the man who changed India’s economic fortunes was undeniable, even if his critics forgot it in the deluge of news.

The path to his taking over the leadership of the Indian economy revealed another important trait of his. He was a determined pragmatist who shrewdly saw through the tea leaves of both politics and governance. When Indian socialism was all the rage, he was an excellent technocrat in the service of the Raj, who got the license when that very economic regime almost ruined India and Narasimha Rao chose him – after IG Patel Rao’s offer to become FM By saving the economy by changing India’s economic DNA, Singh was equally happy to become the Sardar of reforms. Communists and protection-loving corporate bosses rejected Singh. It didn’t affect him at all. The Industrial Policy Recast in 1991 and the subsequent Budget are milestones in India’s development. If India is now considered a serious global economic player, if it is seen as a future economic heavyweight, if its markets and its middle class are in the sights of multinational companies and fund managers, then it all goes back to the decisive decisions of a quiet man.
Singh got CWC to support twice Nuclear agreement
Dr. Singh’s story is all the more fascinating because not only his rise to finance minister, but even his rise to the country’s top job, as described by his former press aide Sanjaya Baru, was accidental.
He wouldn’t have been FM if Patel had taken the job. He would not have become Prime Minister if Sonia Gandhi had not resigned from office after the Congress defeated the BJP+ in a dramatic upset in 2004.
The thing is, he took both jobs like he was made for them. On the evening of May 19, 2004, as Sonia stood on the forecourt of Rashtrapati Bhavan with Singh by her side, he declared him Prime Minister, saying, “The country will be in the hands of Dr. Manmohan Singh to be safe.”
Their praise can be analyzed in two ways. Safe for Gandhis because he would be loyal to the family, and safe for India because Singh’s competence and professional credibility were never in question. Added to this were the political benefits for the Congress of electing a Singh Prime Minister – the wounds and memories of 1984 were still raw. Despite his successes in reforms, Singh was often seen as a political novice, especially compared to the wily Netas in the Congress who made a career out of Machiavellian Durbar politics. Critics were wrong once again. The 2008 nuclear deal with the US, which he supported not only against the BJP and the CPM’s accusations of selling out the country but also against the unrest in the Congress, was a masterpiece of subterfuge.
Singh got CWC to support the nuclear deal twice, shook off the Left’s exit from UPA-1 and won a vote of confidence from the LS. “Singh is king,” the headlines said.
“Singh is wise,” was the verdict of many heads of state and government, especially the Republican George Bush and his successor, the Democrat Barack Obama. Obama was particularly impressed. As the G20 was launched, as the financial crisis upended a decade-long recovery everywhere, and as various leaders spoke, Obama singled out Singh: “If Dr. “When Singh speaks, the world listens,” said the then US President. But as is the case in difficult electoral politics, even the wisest leaders are not always listened to. Before the 2009 LS polls, when the economy was emerging from the taper tantrum and its political and economic leadership was under scrutiny, the Congress suffered a defeat at the hands of the Modi-led BJP. Singh spoke of the dangers of “majoritarianism” both before and after the results. As a Partition refugee and a member of the minority in Hindu-majority India, he probably had a strong personal connection to secular politics. But it went beyond that. He was a political liberal by conviction. Singh’s comments on Modi could be seen as typical criticism from a loser. But there was more to it than that. He believed India could not afford it Majority politics.